(“I got your marketing and PR right here, King Whatever the Fuck Your Name Is. Come and get it.”)

When Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal was asked last week about the lack of media turnout for last weekend’s Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov event in Cincinnati, the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ admitted that he was put off by the situation, but there wasn’t much he or anyone else in the promotion could do about it.

“I was hoping there would be more people out here, more media, more questions, but really I guess ya’ll don’t care about us that much because everybody’s worried about other issues instead of the fights this weekend — I’m just being real,” Lawal said, referring to the fact that the media and fans were more enamoured by the soap opera Nick Diaz was involved in during the week leading up to Strikeforce event, than they were the event itself. ”[Luke Rockhold]‘s fighting for a title, you got two fights in the heavyweight tournament. …It’s not to me, but it’s a slap in the face to them [that there isn't more coverage of the event]. I don’t know what happened [with Diaz] but it’s not like he was speaking his mind, saying ‘I think this press conference is dumb.’ He just didn’t show up. Now, speaking out and telling the truth is a different story than not doing something that helps the fight. That’s on Diaz. I think he’s a hell of a fighter, but like I said, here we are talking about Diaz instead of this event.”

When asked whether or not he might regret not toeing the company line by complaining that the event didn’t get the press or the backing it should have from the UFC’s marketing department, which some may say was reflected by the dismal ratings the show got, Mo didn’t back down.

“I don’t give a shit,” he said. “I’m going to speak my mind. What are they going to do, say ‘Respect the organization or you’re going to be out forever?’ Get the fuck out of here with that shit. I’m just keeping it real. Make sure you put that in there.”

“It’s disappointing,” said Josh Barnett, one of the four Grand Prix semifinalists on the card. “I’d really like it if we could get a little bit of back-up from the UFC on this. Just a blurb. I’ve talked to some of the fighters and the conversation has come up, why can’t Dana [White] do one little video blog, one little piece saying, please come watch these fights because they’re good fights? I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t think they’re good fights.”

Well, apparently Dana White isn’t a fan of his fighters “keeping it real.” When asked by Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole about Lawal and Barnett’s shared opinion that Strikeforce’s parent company Zuffa, Forza or whatever you want to call it, didn’t help market last weekend’s event, the UFC president responded in typical Dana White style:

“If Mo whatever the [expletive] his name is, or any of those guys, think I planned all this shit this week, they’re out of their minds. Yes, we signed Overeem and made the Brock fight. Do you think I expected Nick Diaz to pull this shit? We have all kinds of stuff going and I didn’t need this in my life,” White explained pointedly. “It is what it is and I never had a thought in my mind of fucking with Strikeforce. But I promote the UFC 24/7.”

Cagepotato Comments

Showing 1-25 of comments

@ straightAhead, I deserved that.
@ thebloodoftyrants, Obviously UFC is the top dog of promoters but when I'm at home in front of the tv it's good to see as many fights as possible. I'm a huge fan of mma and the more the merrier.

thebloodoftyrants- September 18, 2011 at 8:36 pm

All you StrikeFARCE fans are silly. The only people from strikeFARCE who deserve any national attention for their talents are Hendo, Overeem, Diaz and Melendez, who either have or shortly will be absorbed into the UFC and the rest will justifiably perish into local circuit obscurity. Strikefarce is and always was a joke and Dana knows it, that's why they are systematically dismantling it. Zuffas only reason for buying it was to crush a pesky ant and take the less than handful of talent it had. Neither Lorenzo or Dana give a shit about Strikefarce. They look at it the way we look at ants at a picnic, they can't really do us any real harm but they tend to get on our food and sometimes they run off with a crumb and it annoys the shit out of us, so we smash or poison them. Just look at one of their "Biggest Talents" Jake Sheilds, when he came to the UFC I said he was a vegan bitch who wasn't going to do well and he's lost his last 2 and should have lost to Kampman but apparently the judges where retarded or high. When the contract with Showtime is up StrikeFARCE will be gone and I personally thank the MMA gods. I don't personally consider my self a capitalist in all areas but I do in this one. Let's get all the real fighters under one banner like every other legitimate sport (NFL,PGA, PBA, etc.) that is how you determine the best fighters and the most exiting matches.

straightAhead- September 17, 2011 at 7:32 am

@Eatme... Thank you for proving my point, genius! DW is the CEO of Zuffa and also part owner of the UFC which includes SF. So in essence he (DW) is saying he does not care about part of his own company. Now go back and get on your knees, biaatch!

one more thing... you other imbiciles who say Dana is the CEO if UFC and not SF... you are all idiots... im just keeping it real.

The last SF event before last weekend the UFC and Dana were promoting the hell out of it. How soon we forget? There were commericals and tie-ins with all UFC stuff promoting the fight with Fedor and other matches. Now all of a sudden Dana is keeping his word?!? are your effin kidding me? This was all before the FOX deal. Now the UFC is saying we really dont give a phuck about you all and until you are 100% under our contracts we could care less as the UFC is seeing little of the SF money anyway since the pre-existing Showtime and other media and fighter contracts have to be honored then expire.

And since when are there not enough media people to cover a fight? So you are telling me that a UFC press conference and Diaz soap-opera were more pressing than a SF event?

It is ridiculous how brain washed you MMA n00bs are. Go kneel before Dana "Don King" White, the pimp that he is, you ho's!!

straightAhead- September 15, 2011 at 9:06 pm

Dana's comment about promoting the UFC 24/7 is BS. StrikeForce is now part of the UFC you imbecile!

To all Dana nut huggers, please tell me what CEO of any company refuses to promote parts of his own company?!?! Does Steve Jobs refuse to promote the iPad because it was someone else's project?

Look the writing is on the wall and it will be proven in the next SF event when they refuse to market it again and look for other ways to sabotage it. The bottom line is that UFC plans to completely dissolve SF within 6 months or less (likely after the tournament is over) and keep the main headliners and fire everyone else. They never had any intention of keeping SF around despite all the lies we hear from Dana and the other UFC bosses. They are not fans of MMA and dont care about fighters in general. They care about only their brand and pimping out fighters as much as they can. That's just business and I can understand it to an extent but please Dana, dont give me the bs about caring about the fans and doing what is good for the sport and your sob stories about being too busy to promote SF. Stop the lying. Dana is a typical pimp/politician who will say or do anything to convince you that he always has your best interest in mind while stabbing you in the back.

Torchum- September 15, 2011 at 2:06 pm

With any acquisition, you generally do it to wipe out competition, strengthen branding, acquire assets and sit back and gloat... I imagine. I agree that Strikeforce will be kept as a AAA farm team where as others like Pride...royalties for late night cable viewing.
I remember watching Forrest Griffin tell Ortiz at the post fight press meeting..."now you get it! Just do as Dana says" after Tito GAVE away the 3rd round and the fight. Tito just made $450 large for his Bader fight whether he won or lost. Bader got $20,000 ( Cruz & Faber really got screwed )
Everyone should know by now, that if you do not play Dana's game you don't play. To any fighter I would say "Suck it up and enjoy whatever wave you are riding especially if you are fortunate enough to be in the big ocean called UFC" Cheers...great fights this weekend.

ubtripn- September 15, 2011 at 2:05 pm

DW takes care of the UFC. Shouldn't King mo and Barnett be pissed with Scot Coker???? If anyone didn't do there job it was him IMHO.

Oh and how about that shout out.... to the people who died on 9-11? I guess his heart was in the right place but it sounded wrong to me....

Eatme- September 15, 2011 at 1:43 pm

+"s to MediumRare for his insight on this and previous fight topcis.

MediumRare for new (assistant) CP editor!!

jhobson- September 15, 2011 at 11:59 am

It's amazing how many dipshit minded people are making comments on here, it's pretty moronic to be calling Dana names over this. As other people are stating Dana has never said he is going to promote SF, as well as he is not the president of SF he is the president of the UFC and that's where he works. Scott Coker is still with SF and that should have been his department not White's. Yes we all know he can be vulgar and his response was a bit much but grow up all you retards that have nothing to do with running the UFC or SF, get a life already.

danomite- September 15, 2011 at 11:59 am

the only thing that dana said that was blatantly bullshit was when he said 'i never had a thought in my mind about fucking with strikeforce'. I'd say taking out the Grand Prix's biggest draw in the semi's, taking it's welterweight champion, just now taking Maximo Blanco, and probably very shortly taking away it's lightheavyweight champ would constitute "Fucking with Strikeforce". but that's just me.

XENOPHON- September 15, 2011 at 11:15 am

Since Dana has a 10% stake in Zuffa, and Zuffa owns StrikeFarce the writing is clear as daylight. There should be no guessing about the future of SF, they are being raided and will become the "B leagues" for discarded and rising Zuffa talent, if not scuttled completely.

hisler- September 15, 2011 at 11:13 am

This is proof that strikeforce is not long for this world. Zuffa wont even promote it. They just want it to fade away and transfer all their fighters into the ufc.
+1000 to mediumrare. Thats the best comment ive read in a while.

medicricci- September 15, 2011 at 10:09 am

I dunno--the title "Dana BLASTS King Mo...." is quite a stretch. It sounds like Dana simply said that he (Dana) was not focused on Strike Force's publicity or anything else. For that matter, I didn't see--in writing or anywhere else, that Mo said Dana was torpedoing SF either. Mo focused his comment on how everyone was distracted by Diaz's antics--nothing else. Nothing in the entire story that "kept it real". If the author is hyping his story, then perhaps the author should "keep it more real" and actually keep to the truth and intent instead of picking a proxy "fight" between Mo, Dana, SF and UFC. This article's title is a little more than inflammatory.

whateverdafck- September 15, 2011 at 10:09 am

I think Strikeforce is no Competition for the UFC, or at least it´s not competition anymore, now its just like the Triple A league, and it´s owned by the same people. Dana sounds everyday a little more like a Macmahon, one of these days he is gonna start making entrances to the cage, and wearing sunglasses indoors, this guy is a mastermind for business and is getting the UFC up there, but I personally like it when the only protagonists are the ones getting punched in the face and choked, not the executives outside, just my personal opinion. That king whatever and the other guys are the ones we should care about, not the gazillionaire...this is starting to look a lot like the Sulaimans, and the Don Kings in boxing.

Lonnie Batt- September 15, 2011 at 9:33 am

well it is like this all you people who think that Dana is wrong,, DANA HAS BEEN SAYING ALL THIS TIME I DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH STRIKEFORCE.. this isnt that hard to understand, now why is he being this way is question that you should be asking,,but, this is probablly just as easy to understand also and the answer is they are going to live up to all of their present obligations with Strikeforce and after that is will probablly dissapear into oblivion that is pretty apparent and why should it be any different.. I have never seen or heard of a company creating compition for itself before have you??? now weather you agree with this is what needs to be debated over... but then again the UFC may have a better Idea than keeping strikeforce for a seperate entity this we do not know..... I believe alot of what happened lastweekend is Mr. Coker's fault,,he is still in charge .....

SnackDaddy- September 15, 2011 at 7:38 am

ArmFarmer, your example is not relevant because Dana is actually in a position to make a difference. Also, instead of replying with reason he barks out like a moron. I'm actually glad he's stuck with Diaz now. The two deserve each other.

C-Dong- September 15, 2011 at 7:30 am

Lets get one thing straight Dana is not in charge of Strikeforce. Does SCOTT COKER ring a bell to anyone? And exactly what Dana said, "If Mo whatever the [expletive] his name is" Seriously if you were Dana would you call that assclown King of anything? Dana is in the right tell them all to sit down, shut the fuck up and when your time is up for the UFC you'll be in here...until then FUCK YOU and thank your lucky stars you're even fighting for strikeforce.

Seriously, if that situation took place nobody would be like "omg he doesnt care about the cars at all! What about the poor civic!? Do accords mean nothing to him!? Hes just a greedy fuck trying to fill his wallet!". I dont see much difference here.

ArmFarmer- September 15, 2011 at 6:42 am

If the 2012 acura tl has serious mechanical and performance issues, do you think the president of acura is going to be worried about promoting the new honda civic? Or is he going to be dealig with media and business obligations related to a serious issue with the product that the company he runs and is responsible for is trying to market and sell? Why the fuck would you people be blasting dana over strikeforce promotional issues? He isnt the president of strikeforce, he is the president of ufc. Plus, strikeforce sucks and it wont exist in 6 months.

stevehonda1- September 15, 2011 at 6:11 am

Sorry but I gotta side with Dana. Strikeforce isn't under the UFC, it's under Zuffa. Dana hasn't been involved with Strikeforce this whole time so why would he all of a sudden post a vlog about it. Lorenzzo has been the one handling Strikeforce biz, but Scott Coker is still the main guy. He should be the one promoting the fights and making vlogs. Dana doesn't give two shits about Strikeforce. He is only after the talent that can benefit the UFC, and he's getting that.

shitbag- September 15, 2011 at 5:49 am

Imagine that. Dana White being hit with perfectly reasonable criticism and then shirking all responsibility. Wow, no promoter has ever acted that way before...

Dana=stupid fuck like all promoters, he don't get in the cage, fuck him.

XENOPHON- September 15, 2011 at 3:53 am

Look at that fucking clown...with those stupid fucking brass knuckles. Hahaha All he needs for that fake as thug look is a matching two ton grill and he can join the honorary Red-bone club.
.

fatbellyfrank- September 15, 2011 at 2:52 am

fatbellyfrank Says:
Wed, 09/14/11 – 03:55
And on a totally non related topic big shout out to all the fans of the Canadian rugby team currently playing in the Rugby World Cup. Great win by your guys yesterday over Tonga, very impressive
………………………………………………………..
And now , of course, Big ups to the USA team for their victory over Russia, an extremely tough 80 minutes of Rugby as you’d expect between these two nations, once again, great Rugby
................................................................

fatbellyfrank- September 15, 2011 at 2:47 am

On further reflection ( I read it again while consuming some frosty beverages)it seems that a cuppla of the asset's Dana has acquired from SF is guy#1(Diaz)who wont attend press events and bitches coz he has to,and guy#2(King Mo)who shows up, but then bitches coz the press don't show up, and then bitches some more coz it's guy#1's fault the press don't attend, which is actually correct coz guy#1 generates headlines, whereas guy#2 just hopes to get his name in the headlines.
Its ajungle out there, and I don't have to work tomorrow

boomtime- September 15, 2011 at 12:30 am

Dana stop acting like other people are not entitled to their own opinion, you seem to think you are the only person who's opinion matters in the world, well my opinion is diaz is a bitch and you put money over the ufc fighters every time

Flux- September 14, 2011 at 10:31 pm

On the next episode of "When Keepin' It Real Goes Wrong..."

TIME_TRAVELER_FROM_THE_FUTURE- September 14, 2011 at 6:52 pm

Anbyody else get a flashback of "Chappelle Show" when he said "Keeping it real!" LMAO
.
“I don’t give a shit,” he said. “I’m going to speak my mind. What are they going to do, say ‘Respect the organization or you’re going to be out forever?’ Get the fuck out of here with that shit. I’m just keeping it real. Make sure you put that in there.”
.
If you DON'T know what I'm talking about go to YouTube and search for
.
chappelle keeping it real
.
Hiiiiiiiiiiilarious!!

skeletor- September 14, 2011 at 6:32 pm

look the only reason they had so few people at the event was because ZUFFA didn't throw a shit ton of free tickets at them. Plus King Mo is pissed about the press conference and weigh in attendance as well. Mo has to realize that there is only so much MMA media to go around and they will pick whichever events they deem the most important to cover, unfortunately for Mo and SF there was more compelling shit going on that week. It was a great card and I watched it but that's because I didn't have to travel to Ohio to do so.

Drinks2Much- September 14, 2011 at 6:01 pm

if UFC has the best fighters from bantamweight too heavyweight, why do u give a shit? * * * im sorry to offend antone with a "KING OF THE CAGE" tattoo * * *

k-onda- September 14, 2011 at 5:50 pm

This event revealed a few things of note:
Dana doesn't care as much about the sport and the fighters as he does his pocket book - he wants to be the reason people watch.
The majority of the fans of this sport are dipshits. This was an amazing, incredibly stacked event. Where were they?
Anyway, what can we do?

El Guapo- September 14, 2011 at 4:36 pm

Yeah, I guess MediumRare's post was aiiiight. If you're into that funny, clever and witty type. I personally prefer the mlkyho and Xenos of the world.
But that's just me..

El Guapo- September 14, 2011 at 4:31 pm

His name is Muhammad "King Mo" Lawal, Dana. Get it right!
In fact say it! Say his name, dammit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xTQDl2aMPY

Get Off Me- September 14, 2011 at 4:30 pm

The fate of Strikeforce was sealed when Zuffa made the Diaz/GSP fight. I said it then and once again, there is no way a SF champion would cross over to the UFC if Lorenzo truly planned on negotiating a new deal with Showtime.
You really think Overeem would not have been able to stall his title fight one more month with Strikeforce...the whole Showtime enforcing the date thing..who told everybody that, Dana?
I just can't wait for Melendez to get the UFC at this point.
@CP when does the Showtime deal end with SF/Zuffa?

@MediumRare
Vetern move, glass raise and salute.

intercept440- September 14, 2011 at 4:10 pm

actually stickinyourua, lorenzo fertitta runs SF, DW has Always said he isnt going to take part in SF day to day activities, and so far he has lived up to his word..
.
.
its up to fertitta to promote it

fatbellyfrank- September 14, 2011 at 4:08 pm

@ Medrare +1 LOL

fatbellyfrank- September 14, 2011 at 4:07 pm

weaksauce Dana, your the CEO, multi task and get the job done, I mean you guys bought Strikeforce so you could strengthen MMA's position in the market didn't you? you just didn't do it to get rid of the opposition and then leave the talent out to dry cause ya don't give a fuck, did ya dana? surely not.
Promote MMA under your banner, which is now UFC and Strikeforce, and get to it, fucken pronto

LetMeStickItInYourRua- September 14, 2011 at 4:01 pm

Sorry but Dana is in the wrong here. He promotes UFC 24/7 well Strikeforce is under your banner now and you should step up to promote it. Dude's got a lot of class. Too bad it's all low!

HandsofGold- September 14, 2011 at 3:42 pm

Who is King MO? Oh wait he fights in the one organization right???? Strike something.... forcestrike oh well whatever it